Gravely Speaking

Even though the Ahern Family Mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, the Sherwood Family Mausoleum in the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C., and the Charles Edward Crouse Mausoleum in the Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York, are in different cities and of different architectural styles, they share a common feature—the same door.

The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) describes the door as a “Relief of a standing female figure with her back to the viewer and her face in profile appears on the door … The figure reaches out to the handle of the door with her proper right hand. Her proper left hand is raised and rests on some of the ornamental detail of the door. This ornamental detail consists of three rows of flowers along the top quarter followed by a narrow band of a wave-like design. The lower portion of the door is a grill work of foliage. The figure’s long flowing gown is off the shoulder on the proper right side and her hair is braided around her head.”

The door itself represent a portal.  Portals come in many forms—a door, a window, even your eyes and your mouth are considered portals.  Many superstitions about death concern portals, many of which come from the Victorian Age, some of which still exist today.

The eyes, for instance, are considered the windows to the soul. Victorians believed the eyes were powerful, almost magical, even in death. When a person died therefore, the body had to be removed from the home feet first (most people died at home in the 19^th Century). In that way, the eyes of the deceased could not look back and lure a live person to follow the dead through the passageway to death.

The Victorians also believed that as you passed by a cemetery, you needed to hold your breath. The fear was that if one opened one’s mouth, that a spirit from the dead residing in the cemetery would enter your body through the portal—the open mouth.

Another superstition had to do with the mirrors in the home. After a death, the family very quickly covered the mirrors. It was believed that mirrors were false portals in a sense. The Victorians believed that the spirit of the dead could enter a mirror and become trapped in the mirror. If the spirit did so, it would not be able to complete its trip through the passageway from the Earthly realm to the Heavenly realm, or in some cases, to warmer climes.

The door as a motif in funerary art also symbolizes mystery.  The door is the portal from the Earthly realm to the next. In Christianity, the door is usually viewed with hope, charity, and faith.  The next life in the hereafter will be better than the one experienced here on Earth.

The bronze door was sculpted and signed by Stina Gustafson.  Hilda Kristina “Stina” Gustafson (December 18, 1885 – March 7, 1937) was born in Sweden and married fellow artist Salvatore Lascari, who gained fame as a portrait painter.  Gustafson was an accomplished sculptor winning a series of awards including the Waltrous Gold Medal from the National Academy of Design.  She also won the McClees Award from the Pennsylvania of Fine Arts   In 1935, she was inducted into the National Academy of Design. 

Tragedy struck in 1937, Gustafson’s studio caught fire. After, she fell into a deep depression and was hospitalized.  According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Monday, March 8, 1937 edition, the headline read, “Hilda H. G. Lascari Noted Sculptress Plunges to Death.”  The paper reported, Gustafson “plunged to her death … from the 11^th floor of the French Hospital … Manhattan.  Early in January Mrs. Lascari suffered a nervous breakdown from which she was slowly recovering in the hospital.  The unusually-gifted artist was last seem alive reading a book in the solarium on the hospital roof.  An attendant entered the solarium some time later in the afternoon and raised an alarm when Mrs. Lascari was nowhere to be seen.  The book was lying beside her chair and the window was open.  Her body was found in the courtyard on the west side of the hospital.”

Sadly, the award-wining and talented artist died a tragic death at the age of 51.  She was laid to rest in Rome, Italy, her husband’s homeland.

IN MEMORIAM

OLIVE BELDEN

WIFE OF

HENRY WIGGLESWORTH

Born Jan. 5, 1874

Died April 26, 1909

HENRY WIGGLESWORTH

Born Nov. 2, 1866

Died March 19, 1945

SYLVIA WIGGLESWORTH

BELOVED WIFE OF

JAMES W. MAITLAND

Born July 8, 1897

Died May 8, 1957

The soaring monument in the Oakwood Cemetery at Syracuse, New York, memorializes Olive and Henry Wigglesworth and James and Sylvia Wigglesworth Maitland. 

Henry Wigglesworth was the son of Alfred and Selina Hardy and born in Belfast. Ireland.  Their imposing marble monument as described by the National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, “contains a relief of a full-length female figure in a long, billowy dress. She holds a baby in the crook of her proper left arm, and a branch in her proper right hand. Behind the woman’s head is laurel in low relief.”  The laurel symbol dates back to Roman times when soldiers wore them as triumphal signs of glory.  In funerary art the laurel, often depicted in a wreath, is seen as a symbol of victory over death.  

The sculpture was created by John Massey Rhind (July 9,1860 – January 1, 1936) a Scottish-born sculptor who lived and worked in the United States creating private and public works. His most famous work is the marble statue of Dr. Crawford W. Long which is located in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C.  Another example of his work can be found on the East side of the Philadelphia City Hall of Sam Wannamaker.

DUPREE

MARY DUPREE

JULY 11, 1862

May 25, 1922

A couple of years ago during Halloween week, volunteers dressed in period costumes to play Bloomington residents who had passed away and were buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery.  As they stood next to the gravestone, they retold the story of the life and death of the person.

In this reenactment, the actress retold the story of Mrs. Dupree’s accidental death when she was struck by a car. She is seen in the photo above, mouth agape and horrified, as Mrs. Dupree sees the car barreling toward her at a whopping 12 miles per hour. The accident was reported by the local news:

“Mrs. Anna Dupree, sixty years old, wife of George Dupree, foreman at the Monon railroad shop in Bloomington, died last Thursday night of injuries suffered when she was struck earlier in the evening by and automobile driven by James Flynn, living 5 miles east of the city.  She attempted to dodge another car and stepped in front of Flynn’s machine.  Flynn was arrested, but release after it was learned that the accident could not be averted.  Mrs. Dupree is survived by the husband and daughter, Mrs. Jessie Mercer.”

In 1922, 14,859 people were killed in car accidents that year, Mrs. Dupree was sadly one of them.  In the last data that was collected and reported—2023—over 40,000 deaths were due to car accidents.  According to the Center for Disease control, “Fatalities that result from motor vehicle crashes are the second largest cause of accidental deaths in the United States”.  Unintentional poisoning, motor vehicle traffic deaths, and unintentional falls lead the way in accidental deaths.

Be careful out there.

Sometimes, it is just nice to go to a cemetery and see the living.

Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh.

In the Old City Cemetery in Seymour, Indiana, there is a small gated plot that contains three graves of the infamous Reno brothers—Frank, William, and Simeon aka “Sim”.  While no one would consider central Indiana the Old West, it is where the first train robbery in US history took place.

The Reno brothers were the nucleus of a gang that terrorized the Midwest.  They were one of the very first gangs that consisted mainly of brothers—others followed, such as, the James Younger Gang, the Dalton Gang, etc.  The Renos perpetrated small petty crimes at first, illegal card games, then burglaries, horse thieving, robberies, and they were suspected of murder.  They grew more violent and eventually held Seymour hostage as they held up in the local hotel.  Then they conducted a series of four train robberies, the first just outside the railroad hub of Seymour in late October 1866.  The crime spree went on for two more years before they were caught.

Many of the gang members were awaiting trial when a group of vigilantes broke into the jail holding them.  Ten members of the gang, including Frank, William, and Sim were strung up and lynched.  None of the members of the vigilante group were ever identified or arrested.

A small plaque notes who they were:

“RENO GRAVES

Frank, William, and Simeon Reno, Leaders of the infamous Reno Gang that committed the world’s first train robbery at Seymour, October 6, 1866 were hanged by vigilantes in the New Albany Jail, December 12, 1868 and interred here December 15, 1868.”

Though the Reno Brothers were the first band of gang members to rob a train, they weren’t last. And even though they had national notoriety at the time, they have been nearly forgotten.

Dr. William Sheridan Flower

January 22, 1871 – June 30, 1924

Sarah Eleanor Lockhart Flower

October 11, 1877 – September 1, 1960

The early 1920s Flower Family Mausoleum in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has a vaguely Egyptian design to it without the convincing detail, such as a torus molding at the bottom of the cavetto cornice and around the corners of the mausoleum to emulate long bundled plants.  Above the doorway, often on Egyptian-styled tomb would feature a winged globe with uroei snakes depicting three sets of falcon wings that symbolize the king, the sun, emanating from a globe representing the Egyptian god, Horus.  Instead, the Flower Family Mausoleum features an acroterion above the doorway.  The acroterion is a classical motif found in Roman and Greek architecture though it has its origins in Egyptian art and architecture. Rosettes adorn the moldings flanking the doorway.  Even without the Egyptian design trimmings, the tomb gives one the sense of solemnity and a sense of eternity.

The Egyptian theme does not continue on the inside but instead is decorated with a stained-glass window with a distinct nautical theme replete with a sailing ship, sea monsters, gulls, dolphins, and tridents.  The mystery: how is the nautical theme connected to Dr. Flower—a dentist?

Carved atop a gravestone in the Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, rests a cat basking in the California sun, a tribute, no doubt, to the deceased’s love of the cuddly feline. Though dogs have long been considered man’s best friend, homeowners in America claim over 74,000,000 cats as part of their household—an average of 2.1 per household, while dog lovers only claim an average of 1.6 per household. 

Although cats were revered in Ancient Egypt as deities, Western civilizations attributed more sinister characteristics to the furry creatures.  In the Middle Ages cats were often associated with the dark arts—witchcraft and even the Devil—and were nearly completely exterminated during the Black Death because they were thought to be evil.

Today, though, their reputation has been rehabilitated and they have become a part of millions of homes across America—much loved as part of the family and often spotted being memorialized in cemeteries!

Erected by
TERENCE NUGENT
In Memory of
his Esteemed Friend
CORNELIUS CREMIN,
A native of Cork,
IRELAND,
Who departed this life
September 1st, 1854,
Aged 26 years,
May he rest in peace.

Afflictions sore he bore,
Physicians were in vain,
Till God did please that death should come [?]
And cease him of his pain

In the top third of the white marble segmented-top tablet in the Catholic Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, is a Latin cross in the center of a weeping willow tree.  The cross is nestled into the letter “H” and flanked by twin obelisks.

The initials “IHS” which have been used for centuries by Christians as a monogram, often referred to as a Christogram, for Jesus. The three letters are a Latinized version of the Greek letters ΙΗΣ (iota-eta-sigma), the first three letters of the name “Jesus” in Greek. 

The obelisk is a stone shape that is ubiquitous in American cemeteries and part of the Egyptian Revival Period which was inspired by the French and then the British presence in Egypt in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. The obelisk is said to represent a single ray of sunlight, petrified from sunlight into stone.  It was thought that the Egyptian sun god Ra lived within the obelisks.  These towering monuments were often placed flanking the entrance to temples. Here the obelisks are combined with the willow, which is a traditional symbol of morning and grief.  

However, the Egyptian and Christian symbolism share an uncomfortable coexistence in this design.  The obelisk is an easily recognized Egyptian symbol, yet, the tablet also displays the Latin cross.  Because many Christians objected to Egyptian motifs and their non-Christian origins, designers softened the impact, by including Christian symbolism, as is the case here.  Eventually the obelisk became a common site in American cemeteries large and small, urban and rural.